Denton Emo Band alwaysneverstays Didn't Actually Disappear. They Just Made a Killer Album

A little over a year ago, Denton garage band alwaysneverstays released their demo EP and received an outpouring of local love and support. They quickly cut out their niche in the scene with a raw blend of emotional guitar riffs and abrasive, dirty vocals. With their momentum, it seemed like more was bound to follow, but before they knew it, a year had gone by with no new music.

“We were just going through a lot as a band, and it was kind of messy,” vocalist Gabe Houston says.

After a long spell of silence, Rumors of Our Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated arrived last month. The title speaks for itself; any whispers of the band’s disappearance were swiftly snuffed out over its seven killer tracks, which range from a low, melancholic rumble to all-out animosity.

Rumors of Our Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated is everything you could want from a garage emo outfit, including its short and sweet 30-minute runtime. The album features heavy, driving guitars alongside skin-peeling screams and plenty of more thoughtful, pensive tunes that steadily build into a blind rage. With so much to chew on in just under half an hour, the record is practically begging to be replayed, and the craftsmanship behind each song alone certainly warrants such treatment.
Between bites of sushi and sips of Sapporo, Houston, guitarist Ian Coxon and bassist Angel Demello discuss a seemingly boundless variety of topics, spanning from the drama between WWE superstars to what Coxon learned in his most recent Japanese lesson. There's enough chemistry here, which might explain how cleanly they’ve weaved so many niche references into one coherent body of work.

“At Chirei (Release of the Id)” is based on a fan-made manga for The Touhou Project, a series of Japanese 2D bullet-hell games, and features the band using pockets of silence to brilliantly highlight some of their heaviest moments. “Carmen Miranda’s Ghost” loosely draws from a sci-fi novel of the same name to explore themes of legacy and feeling someone's presence after they’re no longer here. “Jeff Hardy” is inspired by the high-flying WWE superstar’s former heated rivalry with CM Punk, back when both wrestlers were at the same promotion. “I wrote the lyrics from CM Punk's perspective in their feud in 2009,” Houston says. “CM Punk, the straight edge warrior, versus Jeff Hardy, who's beloved by the fans, but has his vices.”

Brooding, melodic notes from Connor Freeman intensify into driving power chords as Houston screams out “Just say no,” the same three words Punk spat out at Hardy before their big brawl. The band quickly pulls back the ferocity just for drummer Zakk Gilmore to usher them into the deep end one more time.

Houston’s grainy voice playfully jaunts alongside Freeman’s light riffs as Demello and Gilmore push a 3-3-2 groove in a 4/4 time signature on “Thirty Years,” a nod to Saosin’s “Seven Years” and The Fall of Troy’s predecessor, The 30 Years War. “Light Novels” opens with a sentimental riff courtesy of Coxon that feels reminiscent of The Smashing Pumpkins or Staind’s slower stuff.

Aside from announcing their revival, the record’s name is also a play off of “the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” a popular Mark Twain misquote. As it turns out, Houston’s the biggest Twain fan in town, and the writer’s influence can be found in several places on the record.

“He's the Great American author,” Houston says, beaming with admiration. Pictures of Twain can be found in the album cover’s upper right corner, and “Mysterious Stranger” also pays homage to the late wordsmith.

“That's the name of one of Mark Twain’s books,” Houston explains eagerly. “Have you heard of Halley's Comet? It comes into view every 72 years. Twain was born when Halley's Comet came around and died the year it came back, so I based the song off of that.”

As he explains the cryptic meaning behind each track, Houston’s fervent passion for his craft only becomes more evident and admirable. He’d always wanted to be in a screamo band, he says, and he might not have gotten the chance if not for Coxon and Freeman. The two guitarists met up and started alwaysneverstays back in 2024 with Coxon originally on drums. Freeman’s friend Cameron Moody took over the throne not long after, which freed up Coxon to pick up the axe. While searching for a vocalist, Freeman and Coxon ran into Houston at a show in Denton.

“Me and Connor were at a Jockey show, and at the end, they handed the mic out and we heard screaming that wasn’t coming from the Jockey vocalist,” Coxon says.

Houston continues: “They came up to me after the show and were just like, ‘Hey, we’re starting a screamo band, you wanna join?’ Then I went to a practice and they showed me a song they were working on, and I made lyrics on the spot and started screaming. And that was 'sonic,' the first song we ever made.”

To round out the lineup, Coxon recruited Demello, his bandmate from Spun. They worked on a few songs together, but this iteration of the band wouldn't last. Moody soon moved on to pursue other projects, but there’s no bad blood between him and the band.

“At some point, Cameron just kind of outgrew us,” Demello says after explaining how Moody had helped him grow as a bassist. “He’s a very talented drummer.”

Freeman enlisted Gilmore to sit behind the skins back in November, and within a week, they were working on new material.

Houston assures us that the band is taking its second wind and running with it. He says CDs are on the way, and they plan to play more gigs this year, potentially outside of Texas. Coxon and Demello share the same ambition, but assert that first, they need a break.

“We were hustling for like three months doing hella practices and getting ready for this. I’ve earned at least two months of PTO from the band,” Demello says, laughing.

Currently, they have a show on July 11 and their album release show on July 26, both at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios in Denton. The guys also hinted at releasing another project later this year, so hopefully they don’t suddenly disappear on us again anytime soon.